Monday, December 10, 2007

Anne Herman, 1933 - 2007

There once was a girl, with a strawberry curl,
right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very very good,
but when she was bad, she was horrid....

and she would:
  • involve herself in issues of domestic violence and poverty caused by war and the military.
  • teach Alternatives to Violence in prisons.
  • lobby and fast in protest against the School of the Americas in Georgia.
  • go to federal prison 6 months for trespassing on the School of the Americas.
  • live and work in the women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice for 13 years.
  • engage in non-violent civil disobedience like painting shadows on sidewalks to symbolize the victims of Hiroshima, do military recruitment office sit-ins, blockade the Binghamton Federal Building in protest of the Iraq invasion, do grave digging on the grounds of the Pentagon, trepass in protest against Vieques in Puerto Rico, protest the nuclear subs in Groton, Connecticut, serve several years as volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Chiapas, Mexico, Hebron in the West Bank, and the Oneida Reservation, and go Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness.
  • attend weekly anti-Iraq War vigils as member of the local El Paso Border Peace Presence and establish a G.I. hotline.
This was when she was being very, very horrid. And that's about as good as one can be!

Anne remained an activist up to her death, Thanksgiving Day, 2007. Saturday a memorial was held for her by family and her many friends locally. We in El Paso were fortunate to have had Anne Herman among us these last few years to serve with, learn from and be inspired by her. Farewell brave warrior!

~~~~~~~~~~

6 comments:

eProf2 said...

Sorry about the loss of your friend and the friend to Peace!

Fran said...

Anne sounds like a wonderful peace worker.
She's got quite the resume, and really went above and beyond. We have a few folks locally who regularly *visit* the SOA. They don't play nice there either. They jailed for a long time, a Nun who was protesting. A NUN!
I wish I could have heard her tell the tale of grave digging @ the Pentagon. May she send us inspiration from above.

D.K. Raed said...

If only the whole world was this "horrid", it would be a wonderful place. Anne Herman really did walk the walk. Very inspiring. May she RIP.

Trespassing in Vieques took guts. There are many live rounds there on the beach. Also bad pollution, toxic military mess.

Dada said...

Fran: Yes, nuns! There are several of those who demonstrate with the local peace group and a priest and nun of whom I have the most knowledge have equally impressive resumés of activism in Latin/South America, as well at the SOAs and Wash., DC. They have been doing this for years and experienced 80's life under Reagan in Central America.

These two, living/working in Mexico, walk across the border faithfully to demonstrate against the war each Friday. (The 83 yr. old priest, slight of build, but incredibly strong of mind & spirit, was a fighter pilot in the Pacific at the end of WWII. Flying only three missions before the war ended he says, "Thank God, I never had to kill anyone.")

d.k. - Thank heavens for unexploded ordinance! It's the only thing separating our neighborhood from the foothills of the glorious mountains behind us that would otherwise be mall stores, car dealerships, loan sharks and pawn shops.

In the 90's, Susan (our dalmation) and I would trepass upon that gov't land regularly. The posted signs weren't enough to keep us out. Fortunately, we never stepped on anything, but it's enough of a concern to keep drooling developers at bay. A curse, a blessing. Yay! TG for UXB's.

enigma4ever said...

what a lovely tribute to a true warrior and friend.....lovely....namaste.

Anonymous said...

And now it falls to us who remain to take up the work that Anne no longer can do...Thanks for your tribute to this committed, unrelentingly passionate and yet unassuming worker for peace and justice.